by Peter Schrager

Bowl season roundup

Bowl recaps and analysis:

EagleBank: Wake 29, Navy 19 | CFN
New Mexico: Colo. St. 40, Fresno St. 35
St. Petersburg: S. Florida 41, Memphis 14
Las Vegas: Arizona 31, BYU 21 | CFN
New Orleans: SMU 30, Troy 27 (OT) | CFN
Poinsettia: TCU 17, Boise St. 16 | CFN
Hawaii: Notre Dame 49, Hawaii 21 | CFN
Motor City: FAU 24, Cen. Mich. 21 | CFN
Meineke: W. Virginia 31, UNC 30 | CFN
Champs Sports: Fla. St. 42, Wis. 13 | CFN
Emerald: Cal 24, Miami 17 | CFN
Independence: La. Tech 17, NIU 10 | CFN
Papajohns.com: Rutgers 29, N.C. St. 23
Alamo: Mizzou 30, N'west. 23 (OT) | CFN
Humanitarian: Maryland 42, Nevada 35
Texas: Rice 38, W. Michigan 14
Holiday: Oregon 42, Oklahoma St. 31 | CFN
Armed Forces: Houston 34, Air Force 28
Sun: Oregon St. 3, Pittsburgh 0 | CFN
Music City: Vandy 16, BC 14 | CFN
Insight: Kansas 42, Minnesota 21
Chick-fil-A: LSU 38, Georgia Tech 3
Outback: Iowa 31, South Carolina 10 | CFN
Capital One: Georgia 24, MSU 12 | CFN
Gator: Nebraska 26, Clemson 21
Rose: USC 38, Penn St. 24 | Analysis
Orange: Va. Tech 20, Cincinnati 7
Cotton: Ole Miss 47, Texas Tech 34
Liberty: Kentucky 25, East Carolina 19
Sugar: Utah 31, Alabama 17
International: UConn 38, Buffalo 20
Fiesta: Texas 24, Ohio St. 21 | Analysis
GMAC: Tulsa 45, Ball St. 13
BCS title: Florida 24, Oklahoma 14
Complete bowl schedule

Photo gallery:

• Fiesta Bowl snapshots
• Snapshots from Saturday's bowls
• Best from bowl season's 1st weekend

Shopping:

• Get your '09 BCS bowl gear!

Move over Damon, Pitt and Clooney: Lost in Saturday's Red River Shootout was arguably the best acting performance of the 21st century. Thought Daniel Day Lewis was great in "There Will Be Blood?" Liked Adrien Brody's work in "The Pianist?" Well, you can add Oklahoma punter Mike Knall's performance in the 2008 Red River Shootout to the list. Down 30-28 with the Sooners defense struggling to stop the Texas offense all afternoon, Knall took a dive after booting a punt, collapsing to the ground like a ton of bricks. Writhing in pain on the ground, Knall grasped his knee (or thigh?) in horrible pain. Of course, nobody touched him. Flag. Roughing the punter call. What happens next? Oklahoma converts a third and 14 and a few plays later scores to take the lead. Texas ultimately won the contest, but not before the cameras caught a shot of Knall on the sidelines late in the fourth quarter — limping on one leg. As any true actor knows, to be a real master of the craft, you've really got to sell it. Brent Musburger said it best, noting, "We've seen a Heisman performance in acting."

History Lesson: The last time the Longhorns escaped the Red River Shootout with an undefeated record still intact was 2005. Texas, led by Vince Young, won the national title that season.

Tough Road Ahead: Of course, it won't be easy. In truth, if Texas can survive their regular season schedule with a perfect record, they deserve an automatic berth into the BCS national championship game, regardless of what they do in the Big 12 championship game. Seriously. Up ahead for Texas? Next Saturday vs. Missouri, Oct. 25 vs. Oklahoma State and a Nov. 1 shootout with Graham Harrell and the Red Raiders of Texas Tech in Lubbock. Survive that unscathed, and even the most die-hard SEC fans would have to agree that the Longhorns are the best team in the land.

Toledo? Seriously, Rodriguez? Toledo? What's with Michigan and these non-BCS teams in the Big House? Last year it was Division 1-AA Appalachian State, and two years ago, the Wolverines were a last-second touchdown away from dropping one to Ball State. Saturday? Michigan lost at hime to the 1-4 Toledo Rockets. The loss was Michigan's first ever loss to a MAC team (24-0 previously) and put Michigan in a 2-4 hole on the season, their worst record after six games since 1967. The star of Saturday's upset? Toledo receiver Nick Moore, who caught 20 passes for 162 yards on the day. The goat? Michigan kicker K.C. Lopata, who missed a 26-yard game-tying football with four seconds left in the fourth quarter. After the game, Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez told reporters, "I'm just extremely disappointed and embarrassed." Somewhere, at least a few West Virginia alumni are smiling ear to ear.

Commodores get Croom'd: Coming off of last Saturday's win over Auburn (their first vs. the Tigers since 1955), the national media spent the week boarding the Vanderbilt bandwagon in a nice and orderly fashion. Let's see how quickly everyone jumps off after Saturday's 17-14 loss at Mississippi State. Vandy entered the ballgame No. 1 in the nation in turnover margin, No. 2 in interceptions and on the upside of a 58-10 second-half scoring differential in five games. But Sylvester Croom's boys — last year's Cinderella SEC story — put the clamps on the Commodores in suffocating fashion. Mississippi State held Vanderbilt to a hideous 107 yards of total offense and stopped the Commodores on nine of 10 third down conversion attempts. The 17-14 Bulldogs victory blocked Vandy from going 6-0 for the first time since 1928. A shocking result? Not quite. For all their wins and defense this season, Vanderbilt entered the game very last in the conference in both total yards and passing yards per game this season. That offensive ineptitude finally caught up with Vandy on Saturday.

1985 Bears, 2000 Ravens and the 2008 Horned Frogs: Sure, Oklahoma lit them up a few weeks ago, but let's not sleep on what TCU is doing week in and week out on the defensive side of the ball. In Saturday's 13-7 victory over Colorado State, the No. 1-ranked Horned Frogs' D was downright dominant. Consider this statistic: Colorado State had minus-49 yards rushing in the second half. With the win, TCU now boasts the nation's No. 1 rush defense, No. 1 total defense and has given up the fewest first downs per game in all of Division 1-A. Everyone's talking about BYU and Utah's Nov. 22 matchup as some sort of mid-major play-in game to a BCS bowl. BYU plays TCU on Thursday, and the Utes get the Horned Frogs on Nov. 6. There's a good chance that the Utah-BYU battle is between two one-loss teams. TCU's defense is no joke.

How 'Bout 'Dem Gophers? Last season, Minnesota went 1-11 and lost games to North Dakota, Bowling Green and Florida Atlantic. On Saturday, the 2008 version of the Gophers had their way with Big Ten power Illinois in Champaign. The Minnesota defense manhandled the high-powered Illini offense all afternoon, sacking Juice Williams five times and returning a fumble recovery for a touchdown en route to a 27-20 upset. Minnesota is now 6-1 and 2-1 in the Big Ten, with their only conference loss coming to Ohio State in Columbus a few weeks back. Tim Brewster started the season on the hot seat. Seven weeks into the 2008 campaign, he's one of the more popular people in the entire state of Minnesota.

And Mr. Clawson, do you care to join Mr. Franklin? Tony Franklin was fired as the offensive coordinator at Auburn after just six games on Thursday. Could Tennessee first-year offensive coordinator Dave Clawson be on the chopping block this week? You bet. Though the Vols remained competitive from start to finish in Athens, Ga., on Saturday, the offense was a sputtering mess — yet again — in a 26-14 loss. Tennessee netted just one rushing yard on the afternoon, with pre-season Heisman hopeful Arian Foster carrying the ball three times for three yards. The Vols were held under 20 points for the fourth straight game. Is there a Monster.com or Careerbuilder-like site for ex-SEC offensive coordinators? If so, Clawson may want to update his profile. Franklin likely spent the weekend working on his.

But Maybe Franklin was Just a Sacrificial Lamb: Two days after Franklin was fired, Auburn found itself 19-point favorites at home vs. lowly Arkansas. The Hogs outgained the Tigers 416-193 in a 25-23 upset victory. Maybe it wasn't Franklin, after all?

Well, at least there was something on the tube worth staying up for: Whereas the LSU-Florida and Wisconsin-Penn State games didn't exactly live up to their billing as premier Saturday night events, Oklahoma State's 28-23 victory in Columbia delivered and then some. The Vegas over/under was 77, but it was both team's defensive units who carried the load for the majority of the game. The best player on the field Saturday evening? In a game where Heisman frontrunner Chase Daniel and sure-fire All-Americans Jeremy Maclin and Chase Coffman lined up against up-and-coming superstars Zac Robinson and Dez Bryant, it was little known Oklahoma State running back Kendall Hunter who stole the spotlight. Sparked by his 68-yard third-quarter go-ahead touchdown, Hunter carried the rock 24 times for 154 yards. A year ago, Mike Gundy told us he was a man, and the world mocked him. Here we are 12 months later, and no one's laughing at him or his boys. Oklahoma State walked into Columbia Saturday night and outplayed the No. 3 team in the nation on both sides of the ball. The Cowboys are for real.